Our Bond, Brother Mine
by Azure-Witch13
Summary: Something strange is happening to two brothers, Sora and Roxas in Twilight Town. An AU of Kingdom Hearts II
1. Chapter 1:Keyblade

**_So My other Story Voices Whisper in my Ear finally got 60 reviews. Thank you ShaileneScarlet._**

 ** _Also I'd like to thank my Beta reader from tumble Xanmas_**

 **saoryemanoelle and teddybearis for encouragement**

* * *

 _"Give me a break, Kairi," Sora said and Kairi smiled playfully at him._

 _"Giving up already?" Riku yelled as they both ran on the Play Island._

 _They sat on the paopu tree at the sunset. "If there are other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?"_

 _"This world has been connected," a mysterious voice said. "Wh-who's there?" Sora called. "Tied to the Darkness," the voice continued, and Sora frowned._

 _Kairi stood up, it was sunset again. "Sora, don't ever change."_

 _"It is I, Ansem, The Seeker of Darkness," Riku's voice sounded._

 _"The door has opened," said Riku as he extended his hand._

 _"What?" Sora asked, confused as he became surrounded by Darkness, and a hulking monster appeared._

 _"You understand nothing."_

 _"This girl has lost her heart."_

 _Kairi flew and went through Sora._

 _"You're stupid," Sora told Riku, confused and angry._

* * *

Roxas woke up from the dream, he had been having them for a while now. He had no idea why he would have such dreams of Sora but...

Before Roxas knew it, his door slammed open and the subject of his dreams ran in; his big brother, Sora. The brunet had his usual sunny smile as he ran in and started jumping on Roxas's bed.

"Roxas, Roxas, come on up, up, up," he said still jumping on the bed. Roxas laughed, used to his brother's morning greeting. The blonde sat up and tacked his brother, both of them falling to the floor laughing, the bed sheet falling with them. The playful fight ended up with Sora being on top.

"Good morning~" Sora said in a singsong voice, as if he hadn't just jumped on his brother at 7:30 in the morning.

"Morning." Then again, to Roxas, this was their normal.

"Did you have another dream about me?" Sora asked excitedly.

"Maybe," Roxas teased. Sora pouted, which caused Roxas to laugh, and he untangled himself from his brother and stood up.

"Come on, tell me," said Sora, still on his knees.

"Nope," Roxas answered with a smirk as he exited his room and went downstairs.

Sora loved hearing his brother's dreams. Admittedly, they had both found it very strange at first, but the dreams sounded so fantastical, it just became a fun pastime for both of them. Going to other worlds, fighting monsters with a giant Key and meeting so many friends, it sounded awesome, so neither of them paid much mind to them except for entertainment.

Roxas went into the kitchen to start preparing breakfast for them before remembering asking Sora about it.

"No letters from Kairi or Riku yet?" Sora's face lost the smile and he pouted, shaking his head no.

"No."Sora sighed sadly, " And it's been a really long time too."

He sat on the counter, pouting.

"Cheer up. It's a long way from Destiny Island to Twilight Town. I'm sure you'll be hearing from them in no time."

"Yeah, I guess," Sora said, unconvinced.

"What if- What if they forgot about me?"

Roxas blinked in surprise and turned towards Sora before smiling. "Oh come on, Sora, who'd forget about you? You tend to leave an impression wherever you go, wanted or not."

"And just what's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked mock offended, crossing his arms. But Roxas decided to actually ease his brother's worries. He put his hand on Sora's shoulder and gave him a confident smile.

"It means don't ever lose hope on your friends, no matter how far you are, you'll find your way back to each other."

"Wow, Roxas, that was deep," Roxas snorted and Sora laughed.

"Shut up," he huffed, and smiled.

They had moved from Destiny Islands to Twilight Town a year ago. It was harsh on both boys and especially on Sora. His two best friends; Kairi and Riku were very precious to him and it was hard on all three of them to be apart from each other.

Riku was angry, he lashed out at everyone, even at Sora. Kairi was sad, she cried every day she had to say goodbye to Sora before they moved. Sora tried to keep a brave face for his friends and little brother, but Roxas knew Sora had cried every night too. The three of them had promised to write to each other, to try and never lose touch, but it had been months and still no word from them.

Roxas adapted better than his brother in Twilight Town; he made friends fast, and it was him who introduced Sora to Hayner, Pence and Olette. Of course, Sora being Sora, they all got along really well, but the gang was still no replacement for his childhood friends.

Their parents worked for so long, the boys hardly saw them. The two of them are practically living alone in the house, which made the move extra hard for them, but they learned to adapt to this too. The two made a great team and there was hardly anything that they couldn't face together.

Sora stood up and started helping his brother with breakfast. After reluctantly doing the dishes, they changed their clothes, with Roxas wearing a black sleeveless shirt with a pop up collar and black pants, while Sora wore a white sleeveless shirt. They left the house to go meet with their other three friends in the back alley.

Hayner, Pence and Olette were already there when Sora and Roxas arrived at the usual spot.

"Sora! Roxas!" Greeted Olette, waving. Both boys gave her a smile in greeting.

"What took you guys so long?" Asked Hayner.

Sora shrugged and the two of them just sat on the couch, Roxas leaning on Sora as usual.

"So what were you guys talking about?" Roxas asked.

"We've been saying that Seifer's gone too far this time," answered Olette.

"I mean, he's been accusing us of stealing things that went missing around town," continued Hayner, "Now the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the Klepto club!" he turned to the brothers. "Have you ever been this ticked off in your entire life? Cause I haven't. Nuh-uh, never!" Roxas and Sora exchanged a look. "Now... What do we do?"

Olette looked concerned and gave the two brothers a glance. Sora and Roxas shared a look and both of them got an idea.

"Hey, we could find the actual thieves," suggested Roxas.

"Yeah!" Sora said excitedly jumping in place, "That would set the record straight!"

"Hey, that sounds fun," said Pence.

"What about Seifer? Asked Hayner as he crossed his arms.

"First, we gotta clear our names," Roxas said as he got up, and Sora followed him, his hands on his hips and giving everyone an excited smile."Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our backs."

Hayner grunted, unsure, but before he could say anything more, Pence suddenly gasped.

"Oh no, they're gone. Our_ are gone." Pence tried clearing his throat but found he couldn't say the missing word.

"All our_, gone?!" Hayner yelled, surprised, and became more shocked when he couldn't say the word Photo either.

Olette gasped. "You can't say _, why not?"

"But you do understand what I'm saying, right?" Pence asked, "Our _ are gone."

"Stolen…" said Roxas, "And not only that, the word _. They stole it too."

"Umm okay," Sora said raising his hand, "Am I the only one who sees how impossible this should be?" Roxas blinked a few times.

"Yeah… you're right. What could steal an actual word from us? Something that isn't even physical for them to take?"

Sora gave his brother a "No shit" look.

"What the hell's wrong with me?" Roxas whispered to himself.

"Roxas?" Sora asked softly, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder trying to turn Roxas towards him. Roxas gave his brother a small smile and shook his head.

"Anyway, whoever or whatever is doing this needs to be stopped," said Roxas in determination as he faced his friends once again.

Subtly, Sora grabbed his little brother's wrist as the others continued to talk.

"Yeah, I mean Seifer could never pull that off," Hayner commented. "Time for some recon."

"Yeah," Sora and Roxas answered back. Hayner, Pence and Olette ran out ahead of the brothers, but the moment the two of them tried to follow a wave of dizziness hit them both, and they collapsed on the ground.

"It's working, their beings are becoming one."

Sora and Roxas woke up with a groan. "Rox, you ok?" asked Sora as he sat up, putting his hand on Roxas' shoulder. Roxas nodded and stood up, extending his hand to his brother who took it with a grateful smile. Before they could wonder about what happened Olette called them both to hurry up. They nodded at her and ran to catch up with their three friends.

At the Sandlot the five of them met three of Seifer's gang, and got accused of being thieves again before said gang leader showed up.

"Shut up blondie," commented Seifer.

"Says the blond," retorted Sora with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut up. You can give us back the _ now."

"Yeah, you're the only ones who would take it, Y'know!" said Rai.

"That was totally undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers," Seifer said pointing at the gang while circling them.

"Don't stop me from socking him in the face," Roxas whispered to the brunet who snickered at this.

"Listen Seifer, I don't know how in the world you think we could steal an actual word from anyone," started Sora.

"And frankly at this point we're afraid to ask," continued Roxas.

"But we didn't steal anything!"

"Please, there's no one else who would. So what'd you do with them? burn them? Huh, not that we need _ to prove that you're losers."

"Replay," said Fuu, and Seifer laughed evilly, which made Sora and Roxas exchange a look of "Is he actually serious with this?"

"Now you're talking." Each of the three took a fighting stance, Hayner, Sora and Roxas retaliated with their own stances. "I guess if you get on your knees and beg, maybe I'll let it slide."

Roxas walked forwards to Seifer and his gang. "Roxas," Hayner called, but the blond was already face to face with Seifer. Before he knew it Seifer was punched in the face so fast, he fell on the ground.

"Bastard!" he yelled, and quickly stood to fight Roxas grabbing one of the toy bats from the ground. Before Seifer could hit, Roxas rolled on the ground and grabbed his own bat.

"Kick his ass, Rox!" Yelled Sora, and the two blonds began to fight. Roxas made Seifer lose his footing soon enough, as he kicked Seifer's leg from underneath him. The blond regained his footing and dashed at Roxas, with Roxas easily evading him. Seifer tried again, and this time Roxas blocked, then hit him twice, and all it seemed to take to make Seifer go down.

Seifer fell to his knees, which made Fuu and Rai come to his defence with excuses.

"Seifer's not feeling too hot, Y'know."

"Tournament decides."

Sora went to Roxas putting an arm around his shoulder giving him a proud smile. Pence took his camera out and snapped a photo of them. Suddenly something white and thin came out of nowhere and stole Pence's camera, startling all of them.

"What was that?" Hayner asked, far too calmly.

"The thief?" Olette responded, also calm. Roxas and Sora exchange a worried look, but before they knew it their friends had already started chasing whatever it was. The two of them started chasing the others, not sure what they'd be able to do to beat the thief.

Somehow chasing their target resulted in only Roxas and Sora catching up to it, going through the forest and into the old mansion.

Roxas and Sora stood facing whatever… It was.

"We have come for you, my Liege," was heard by both boys, which made them confused even more both taking a step back. The mouth got unzipped and the thing let out a screech. Again with bats on the floor each boy took one, and stood ready to fight.

Both boys acted as one. After all, they had been training together to get stronger. They dashed towards It, hitting it with all the force that they had, but It seemed unaffected, sometimes even sliding away from them.

The boys backed off. "It's no use," said Roxas looking at Sora, but before his older brother could say anything, the bats somehow started to change and turn into something else, something like Keys, like the Keyblades Roxas saw in his dreams.

Sora's...well Keyblade, looked like the one he used in his dream; a simple, golden hilt, with a silver blade that ended with a door key .

Roxas' however, was different; metallic white, the tip was adorned with something resembling a star in blue and yellow. A small heart shaped connected the star to the blade like form. The hilt fit a hand perfectly, and was adorned with wings on either side. At the end of it hung a small chain, connecting to a small yellow star charm.

"Are those what I think they are?" Sora whispered in wonder and confusion. Roxas nodded, mute. "Keyblades," the older boy muttered in wonder, remembering his brother's description of it.

The boys exchanged a determined look and nodded, taking their fighting position.

Using the giant keys came far too natural to them, they were able to actually hurt and defeat the white Thing in seconds. When It disappeared, the missing photos all scattered on the ground. Sora's Keyblade disappeared, but Roxas' stayed in his hand, both brother's focus now on it.

"The Keyblade," Roxas whispered. He raised the key up, and Sora came closer, putting his hand around the hilt, above his brother's. Seconds past until Sora let go, and Roxas dismissed the magical weapon.

"Lets get all these photos back where they belong, we can freak out about this later," Sora said, and Roxas nodded. It was the best course of action anyway.

Roxas picked one of the photos to see the one the five of them took a few years ago with Sora's arm around his shoulder, Hayner beside them and Pence and Olette crouching down.

The five of them reunited at the usual spot, Roxas and Sora showing their friends some of the photos.

"Whats this?" Hayner asked looking at the photo of Roxas, Sora and a shop owner.

"We were his first customers when he first opened his shop," Roxas said.

"So he decided to take a picture with us," continued Sora with a small shrug.

"It's a really nice photo," said Olette. "Oh," she gasped once she realised what she just said.

"Hey, you can say photo again! " Said Pence excitedly.

"So you two, tell us about the picture thief."

Knowing they'd both sound crazy if they told the truth, both of the brothers decided to lie through their teeth.

"Not much to say," Roxas answered, and Sora rested the back of his head on his hands.

"Yeah, the photos were just lying there," the brunette continued.

"Then how do we prove that we weren't the ones that took 'em?" Asked Hayner a little frustrated. The friends looked through more photos.

"So like, did anyone else notice that all these photos have Roxas and Sora in them?" asked Pence.

"Did anyone notice how Roxas and Sora take every picture together? I mean, there isn't one picture I can think off that has only one of them," Hayner said. Roxas and Sora blinked a few times in response.

"Huh, you're right," Olette replied, "But Pence is still right, all these pictures have Roxas and Sora in them. I guess that's why everyone thought it was us."

"Guess Seifer didn't go accusing us after all?" Hayner asked.

"Are they really all of us?" Roxas turned to Pence and asked.

"Yup," the black haired boy answered showing the brothers another photo with them in it, then going through a few more.

"Wouldn't be weird if the thief wanted to steal the real Roxas and Sora or something?" Pence wondered.

"Come on, get real," said Hayner, "Who'd wanna steal these two boneheads anyway?"

"Hey!" Sora exclaimed mock offended giving Hayner a pout, the five of them laughed. The clock's ringing was heard along with the sound of the train. The three of them waved goodbye to Roxas and Sora, who stayed back longer. They both took a deep breath and clutched each other's hands, taking one more breath until they calmed down. When they both calmed down enough they left the alley, only to have the sun shine in their faces and everything going blank.

* * *

 _Restoration 35%_

In a dark lair where the only light is casted from several computer screens that illuminated a masked figure in red.

"Organization miscreants… they've found us." The red wearing masked man said.

"But why would the Nobodies steal photographs?" Asked Riku.

"All three are nothing but data to them. The fools could never tell the difference. We are running out of time, Namine must make haste." He said.

"The Sora in there… is he…?"

"He is Sora, the real Sora, memories of last year missing and altered slightly to not question having a brother."

"But, why?"

"The Nobodies might not have hearts to feel but they could simulate such things, and with his true memories hidden, he would never know the difference. That way when it comes to returning to Sora, it would be much easier for him to agree." Diz explained.

"But what about Sora?" Riku asked.

"What about him?"

"He's already far too attached to Roxas, he won't accept what you're planning for him."

"Once Sora realizes that Roxas is not truly real, he simply wouldn't care about him any more."

"You clearly don't know Sora at all," Riku deadpanned, "Trust me, Diz, this plan will come back to bite you."

"I'm sure it'll be just fine. I admit, their closeness was surprising but... "

"What do you mean surprising?" Riku interrupted him, "You put fake memories in both, didn't you?" Riku asked, confused.

"What I put, were vague ideas, just simple information, nothing specific, no true altered memories. Every touch, interaction and reaction is simply them."

"Diz?"

"Yes?"

"You're going to die."


	2. Chapter 2: Game night

**Special thanks again to my Beta reader Xanmas**

 **Also warning ignore canon, canon in this story is gonna be beaten and bruised to all hell**

* * *

Sora tossed around and rolled in bed until he gave up, sighed and decided to just get out of his bed. Yesterday's events were weird and confusing, not to mention worrying. "At best weird creatures exist and Roxas and I can summon giant Key weapons that can fight them. At worst Roxas and I are going insane."

Sora headed towards his brother's room, hoping to see Roxas. That way at least one of them would be keeping their sanity. When he opened Roxas's door however, he saw his brother hunching over his desk with a pencil in his hand moving. Roxas was drawing again, and suddenly Sora's worry increased.

Roxas can draw, amazingly, but he usually never does unless Sora asks him or in this case, when he's in need to calm down.

"Roxas?" Sora whispered, going closer towards his brother. Roxas glanced behind his shoulder at his brother before going back to drawing. "Morning, Sora," he whispered hoarsely.

"How long have you been awake?" Sora asked worried as he reached his brother's side. Roxas shrugged without looking at his brother.

"A few hours," Roxas answered. Sora noticed his brother's half layed eyes looked lifeless.

"Roxas…"

"Do you remember coming home?" Roxas suddenly asked.

"What?" Sora asked not expecting that question.

"Do you remember coming home? Cause I don't," he said turning to his brother, "All I remember is sunlight shining in my eye, and suddenly I'm bed." Roxas turned back to his sketch not meeting his brother's eyes. "I'm… We're losing all sense of reality, Sora."

"I know you're worried about what's been happening, I'm worried too," Sora said putting a hand on his chest, Roxas stopped sketching, but his eyes never moved. "But I know that it's gonna be okay. We have each other. Roxas," Sora turned his brother's chair towards him, and put his hand on Roxas' face, his thump caressing Roxas' cheek. "I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you, I promise."

"Okay," Roxas said.

"Good. Now give me a big smile." Said Sora, giving his little brother one of his sunniest smiles.

"Sora," Roxas mock whined.

"Come on, give me that smile. After all, this ship…"

"Only runs on smiles," Roxas said closing his eyes and getting a small smile on his face, before taking a big breath and giving Sora his silliest smile he could muster, which made Sora burst laughing, Roxas joined him seconds later.

"How about this?" Sora suggested, and Roxas looked up at his brother's face. "Tonight and all day tomorrow, we'll make it about ourselves. Just play video games and watch movies and not get out of the house. We forget everything and everyone and just focus on ourselves. What do you say?" Roxas' smile became truly genuine and blinding and nodded enthusiastically, loving the idea. Sora's heart filled with glee at finally making his brother happy again.

"You know," Roxas started to suggest, "How about I draw you something? Whatever you want," he shrugged, not sure what Sora would answer.

Sora smiled happily, "Draw the four of us. You, me Kairi and Riku, back at the Island. You don't mind do you?"

Roxas smiled, "I'd love that."

Sora's eyes moved to the drawing on Roxas' desk. "So what were you working on?" he asked, and Roxas turned his attention back to his sketch.

"You know, I'm really not that sure," Roxas said, and raised the sketch up. Sora wrapped his hands around Roxas' shoulders and rested his chin on top of Roxas' head. "He looks like you, but he's not you. That's definitely not your smirk." Sora hummed in response.

"What?" Asked the blond boy.

"He's familiar," responded the brunet.

"Well yeah, that's our face," Roxas laughed.

"Not that." Sora removed his head from on top of his brother's. Roxas arched his neck backwards, and Sora looked down. "I mean there's something familiar about him, something, real. Kinda like the sketch of the one who isn't you."

"The one you called Light?"

"Aha," Sora said and nodded. Roxas hummed.

"Hey, it's 6:30. We can either go back to bed, or we can try to beat each other's high scorers in Mario Kart," said Sora wiggling his eyebrows playfully.

"You're on!" Roxas yelled before dashing out of his room to the living room, Sora tripping over himself to catch up with him.

Hours later, both boys recently saved the game and went to the kitchen to make themselves breakfast as usual, whatever Roxas wanted this time, since Sora couldn't decide. They ended up making a lot of pancakes and to add to all of that a cup of cocoa.

"We're gonna regret this," Roxas said with a laugh as he watched his brother chug the huge cup down.

"Why should I worry?" Sora yelled as he slammed his cub down, wearing a moustache of cocoa which made Roxas burst laughing so hard he fell to the ground.

"Why should I care~?" Roxas carried on, which made both of them burst laughing. The blond boy got up from the floor to drink his own cup.

They changed out of their pajamas into their usual outfits and ran out of the door slamming it behind them, before remembering they should probably lock it.

The two reached the back alley, but before they went in Sora reaches for a wooden stick on the ground. The older brother started waving it around.

"... Sora what are you doing?" Roxas asked.

"Trying to fight with the Keyblade again,"

"Sora that's a stick." Roxas paused for a second.

"What is it?" Sora asked with a raised eyebrow.

Roxas shrugged, "Something just felt familiar about what I just said."

"Huh," said Sora blinking. He glanced at the stick one more time before throwing it behind his shoulder. The stick landed on a still cloaked figure.

Sora and Roxas winced. "Sorry!" Sora yelled, but the figure simply turned around with no words.

"That was weird," Roxas commented, but shrugged it off and turned around to go inside the usual spot, he walked a few steps before noticing Sora not following, the blond glanced at his brother to see him still looking at the spot where the strange man was.

"Is something wrong, Sora?" He asked.

"He just seemed familiar, that's all. You didn't think so?"

Roxas shrugged shaking his head. Sora sighed and followed Roxas inside the alley.

The two of them entered the usual spot, to see Hayner, Pence and Olette eating ice cream. Their blond friend offered them both some, and the brothers smiled at him in thanks then went to sit down.

Minutes passed, and Pence said, "Do you guys think we'll always be together like this?" A bad feeling came over Roxas, but he ignored it and made sure not to show it. Sora gave him a look asking him if he was okay, his brother just smiled and nodded.

"I sure hope so," Olette answered back.

"Huh? Where did that come from?" Hayner asked.

"Oh well you know, just thinking out loud," Pence replied.

"Well I doubt we'll be together forever," said Hayner, and a strange buzz started in the back of Roxas' head. "But isn't that what growing up is all about? What's important isn't how often we see each other, but how often we think about each other. Right?"

Pence laughed, "Get that off a fortune cookie?"

"That's it, no more ice cream for you!" a few seconds past before Hayner started again, "Man, today's turning out to be such a drag."

"Maybe because of yesterday's memory thief." Olette suggested.

"Nuh-uh, you know what it is? We don't want summer vacation to be over, that's all." Hayner countered. Pence shrugged at the other four.

"So, how about this," Hayner began again,"We all go to the beach!" Sora's head snapped to Hayner and he got the sunniest smile on his face that the three new friends had seen yet, and started nodding enthusiastically. Roxas chuckled; his big brother could be really adorable sometimes.

"I guess we haven't gone to the beach this entire vacation, which is weird with Sora around," Roxas commented.

"Yeah!" Sora jumped up happily, "Let's just get on a train and go!"

"Maybe you two forgot, but we're broke," Roxas said amused.

"Maybe you forgot, I'm smart," Hayner contedred pointing at himself. With a smile Hayner ran off. Pence and Olette shrugged and followed the blond. Sora ran too catching up with the other three quickly. Roxas gave an amused sigh and followed his friends and older brother to whatever hairbrained schemes were in Hayner's head this time.

Roxas reached the other four who were looking at an ad for the struggle tournament. "Only two days to go," said Hayner, "The three of us will for sure make the finals. That was whoever wins the five of us split the prize."

"Okay, you're on," said Roxas.

"Yup, we're going to kick everyone's ass," said Sora excitedly

"You three are gonna clean up!" exclaimed Pence.

"Go get 'em!" Olette cheered.

Hayner got the idea of everyone doing odd jobs in order to get some munny and the five agreed, each going their separate ways to earn what they could.

After a long day of doing so, the five reunited at the front of the train station giving the munny to Olette in order for her to see what they had, and to put it in her bag.

"Nice work everyone. Added to what we had before, we now have... Tada!" Olette said, revealing the bag from behind her back, "7000 Munny."

"Sweet!" Hayner exclaimed, and Olette gave the bag to Roxas.

"Let's get tickets," she said, running towards the ticket booth, Pence following her immediately. Roxas smiled looking at the two, and Sora was ready to sprint in order to follow the two before Hayner spoke.

"We can't be together forever… so we better make the time we do have something to remember."

The brothers looked at Hayner in confusion and a bit of worry if they were honest.

"Huh?" Roxas finally asked confused.

Hayner rubbed his nose before playfully punching Roxas and exclaimed "Gotcha!" then running off before Roxas could say anything more, or Sora could react. The brothers looked at their running friend with more confusion.

"What was that about?" the blond asked Sora with a raised eyebrow, who shrugged with a little frown on his face.

Both of them started walking towards their friends before something hit Roxas from behind and made him fall. Sora went to help his brother up but froze, seeing the same cloaked figure grabbing his brother roughly and whispering something.

"What?" Roxas asked.

"Hey!" Sora shouted, "Let him go!" Both the cloaked figure and Roxas glanced at Sora, and in a second the man in black disappeared.

Sora ran to his brother's side, and examined where the man had grabbed his brother. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Sora asked concerned.

"No, I'm fine. He just…"

"Hey! Sora, Roxas come on!" Hayner shouted cutting Roxas off.

"Tell you later," Roxas whispered, and Sora nodded.

"Five students," Hayner told the booth lady with a smile.

"Roxas, the munny," Pence called.

"Wait," Roxas exclaimed, and Sora looked at him with a frown as he patted himself looking for the munny. "No!"

"He took it," Roxas said. Sora opened his mouth before a look of outrage colored his features. Both him and Roxas started heading outside to look for the strange man.

"Where are you two going?" Olette asked.

"That guy must've took it when he grabbed me off the ground."

"What are you talking about?" asked Hayner.

"What?" Roxas asked confused, Sora giving Hayner a disbelieving look.

"There was no guy," their blond friend said.

"But he.." Roxas started saying, Sora frowning in confusion and a little anger.

"There wasn't? Really?" Roxas looked at his brother in confirmation only to see Sora both glaring at nothing in particular, which usually wasn't a good combination for whoever that look is directed at but at the moment Roxas will take solace that he wasn't going insane, at least not alone.

"There was someone," Sora whispered angrily looking at the ground his eyes narrow, and crossing his arms.

The train whistle blew, snapping both brothers from their thoughts.

"Oh boy..." sighed Pence in disappointment.

The brothers exchanged a meaningful look, "We will talk about this later," seemed to be said between them.

The five of them left the station disappointed, and in Sora and Roxas' case; pissed. They compensated however slightly by buying some seasalt ice cream and heading to the clock tower. The five of them spent it in relative silence with Sora and Roxas refusing to talk about it until they were alone.

The day ended and all of them heading their separate ways. When the two brothers entered their home, Roxas immediately punched a wall.

"What is going on?!" He yelled, "First, an actual word gets stolen, a thief that doesn't even look human, actual Keyblades, and now this! Invisible people. Invisible jerk people who steal your munny!" Roxas gave a tired sigh and sat on the couch, covering his eyes with his hand. "Are we going insane, Sora?" He whispered finally looking up at his brother, who came closer and kneeled in front of him.

"I don't know," he whispered with a shrug. "But both of us saw the exact same thing, and that has to mean something, right?" He asked with an encouraging smile as he put his hands on his little brother's shoulder. "Whatever the case, Roxas, you're not alone. Remember that. We're together in this, and that's all that matters."

Roxas gave his brother a smile and hugged him, grateful for having him in his life.

"Come on, I promised you a marathon tonight didn't I?" Sora said with big grin on his face.

Roxas laughed and both of them started making preparations for said marathon of movies and video games: making popcorn, getting drinks, and setting up mattresses to lie on, locking their door and sending a message to their friends of their plans, in which the three of them told the brothers to enjoy themselves. Roxas and Sora told them that they were grateful for letting them both do this. .

While watching one of their favorite superhero movies, Roxas giving his sarcastic commentary as usual, he turned to his brother.

"You know, it really vexes me when the hero just tells the bad guy that their loved ones wouldn't want them to do this. Like nah, nu-uh. If I was killed in some collateral damage bullshit thing, I'm giving you a 52 steps list. You avenge me like the best brother that you are!"

Sora laughed. "Okay, you make the plan, and I promise to execute it."

"You got it," Roxas said with a laugh, he high fived his other as they continued to watch the movie.

As promised the two spent the night playing all the games that they had at home, and rewatching their favorite movies. Roxas sketching the picture Sora asked for that morning while watching some boring scenes in a few movies.

Sora had tried peeking at his brother's work several times but Roxas kept running away from him and hiding his sketch, even jumping around on the furniture after the other.

The two spend the entire night and into the next day just goofing off, until both of them just passed out playing Mario Kart 8.

The two finally woke up at twilight. They sent their friends a message that they were feeling better now and that they'd definitely meet them the next day. They cleaned the place, putting everything back where it belonged and throwing out the trash, which admittedly was a lot of trash for two people but then again they had spent almost two days playing, so they didn't complain much.

The two brothers finished by finally taking a nap so that they would be able to wake up in the morning to meet their friends.


	3. Chapter 3: The beginning of his end

" **Lucky Number XIII... At last, a chosen wielder of the Keyblade amongst our ranks."**

" _Kingdom Hearts will complete us. That's the Organization's goal."_

" **It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me!"**

" _You feel nothing. You seek answered, I can give you porpoise."_

" **Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one."**

" _Who are you...again?"_

" **You'll be better off now... Roxas."**

" _You remember our boss's name right?"_

" **I was like a zombie,"**

" _Today, we welcome another one of the Keyblade chosen, Number XIV,"_

" **Go ahead, run! But I'll always be there, to bring you back!"**

" _I still can't believe it. I really flew. Wait 'til I tell Kairi. I wonder if she'll believe me. Probably not."_

" _ **After all, we're best friends aren't we?"**_

It was the day of the tournament. Both boys had gone to bed in their respective rooms last night. Roxas woke up to see that it was 8:30. He sat up with a confused look. Usually, Sora would come in to wake him up jumping on his bed as usual, but there was no sign of his big brother anywhere. Roxas stayed in bed for a few more minutes before giving up on his brother coming into his room.

The blond boy got out of bed and headed towards his brother's room. He knocked a few times but didn't receive an answer, so he let himself in.

"Sora?" he called as he opened the door but there was no answer this time either, and Sora's bed was empty. Roxas' confusion intensified. He went downstairs and into the kitchen only to see Sora sitting on the table just staring at a bowl of cereal looking… sad.

"Sora?" Roxas called. The brunette looked up at his brother, his face didn't lose the sadness that was there and -now, Roxas can see- the worry.

Wordlessly, Sora stood up and walked towards his brother, hugging him. One of his hands was on Roxas' back while the other one tangled itself in Roxas' hair in the back of his neck.

"Sora… is something wrong?" Roxas asked returning the hug. Sora just shook his head and buried his face in his little brother's neck.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Roxas asked as he held Sora, waiting for his brother to tell him what's wrong. Sora didn't answer for a few seconds, only nodded his head, while it was still buried in Roxas' neck.

"It was just a dream," Roxas whispered reasurengly, but Sora just tightened his hold on the blond.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Sora shook his head again. Roxas held his brother in his arms and started to run his hand through the chocolate spikes.

Minutes past, and finally Sora took a deep breath and untangled himself from his brother. "I'm sorry, Rox. It's just…" Sora sighed tiredly, not knowing what to say.

"It's alright, you don't have to tell me yet," Roxas said, putting his hand on Sora's shoulder in comfort, giving him a small smile. "I'm not going anywhere." Somehow that was the wrong thing to say, as Sora lunged at him hugged him again.

"You'll never leave me, right?" he asked, his voice verging on tears.

"Of course not," Roxas whispered bewildered. Sora nodded and let go, staring at Roxas' face with unshed tears.

"Sora," he said worriedly, but his brother finally just gave him a teary smile.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. The dream was just, so real. Lucky number XIII."

Roxas' head snapped towards his brother. The phrase far too familiar for his liking, his own dream coming to him, making him worry, something which had been happening a lot lately.

"But," Sora continues, "I dreamt that I flew!" He said with that sunny smile that finally came to his lips.

Roxas chuckled, "Funny, I dreamed you flew once too."

"Really?" Sora asked, excited as usual to hear about Roxas' dreams. His brother just chuckled and poured himself his own bowl of cereal.

"Ready for the Struggle today?"

"You bet!"

All five friends were excited. Fireworks filled the sky as the announcer called for all the participants to gather and listen to the rules. Olette and Pence stood on the sidelines of the arena watching their three friends get their instructions.

"Who are you gonna cheer for?" Pence asked.

Olette giggled as she answered "All of them, silly."

"The rules are simple," the announcer stated, "Due to the lack of even-numbered participants, the tournament will be divided as such. First round; Sypher Vs Vivi. Second round; Hayner Vs Sora. Third round, winner of the First goes against Roxas, and in the Fourth winners of the Second and Third go against each other. And Finally Against Setzer."

The crowd cheered as the tournament started. Sypher and Vivi began to fight but Roxas didn't pay attention to them, instead the blond boy turned to his friend, with a guilty expression of his face.

"Hayner, listen...I'm sorry about the money," Sora's head snapped towards his brother and friend.

"Roxas," the older brother called, trying to say something.

"What, you're still thinking of that?" Hayner asked playfully, "Get over it already," the blond gave both brothers a grin. Roxas smiled back in relief and Sora returned Hayner's grin full force. "Now you and Sora get ready, I won't go easy on either of you."

Both brothers nodded, amusement and determination in their eyes.

"Winner, Vivi!" the announcer shouted, and the three friends' heads whipped towards the arena in surprise. "What an unexpected turn of events…"

Sypher along with his other two gang members walked towards Sora, Roxas and Hayner. "That's not Vivi."

"What?" Roxas asked bewildered.

"Floor him," Sypher said in way of answering and left, not looking back.

"What was that about?" Hayner asked as his eyes followed Sypher. Roxas and Sora exchanged a worried look. Sora nodded, indicating that ' _Anything wired happens, we deal with it together,'_ Roxas nodded back. Both of their gazes turned to Vivi,- or whatever is in place of Vivi- and he giggled.

"Come on Sora, it's our turn," Hayner called.

Sora snapped out of it, "Yeah!" He called and ran following Hayner into the arena. Both took a fighting stance, ready to lounge at the other.

"I told you I'm not gonna hold back, Sora!" Hayner called.

"Fine by me!" Sora called back, a determined grin on his face.

The bell sounded. "Begin!" The announcer called, and both friends ran towards the other. Sora dodged his blond friend easily, sending hit after hit, and not letting Hayner touch him. The bell rang again as the round ended, with the clear winner being Sora. Hayner fell on the ground, "Ah, I lost," and turned to Sora giving him a playful grin. Sora chuckled, then walked towards Hayner and gave him a hand.

"Make sure you or Roxas wins this," Hayner said, Sora nodded, "I'm holding you to that."

They exited the arena as Roxas and Vivi came entered it. "Good luck, Roxas!" Sora called, and Hayner gave him a thumbs up. Roxas gave them a determent nod, then turned around to face Vivi, who giggled. Suddenly everything froze, and a wave of...something was felt.

"Roxas?" Sora called in worry.

Roxas was relieved to hear his brother's voice. "I'm okay!" He called back, "You?" Roxas asked.

"I'm fine."

Vivi suddenly jumped in the air then turned into one of those white creatures they saw in front of the mansion.

"Roxas!" Sora called out in alarm.

"It's okay!" Roxas called, immediately summoning Oathkeeper, getting ready to fight. "I can handle them on my own." There were only three, and Roxas was sure he can take a few Dusks on. The younger boy paused for a second, not sure why he called these creatures that… but it didn't matter at the moment. Roxas ran towards the first one, hitting it with his keyblade, a few hits and it was gone. A Dusk tried attacking but Roxas slid away hitting it as fast as he could a few more times, and it disappeared. The third was harder to kill, but he managed just fine.

Roxas breathed hard as he looked around, everyone was still frozen except his brother. Sora was about to run towards him, but an unfrozen person in a cloak stopped him, he started clapping his hands. Roxas considered for a second that that was the same guy that stole their money, but no, he realized that the body type looked different, this one was far slimmer.

"Roxas, alright, fight fight fight."

Definitely not the same guy, different voice, different attitude, but there was still something familiar about him. "Don't you recognize me? It's me, ya' know," the guy removed the hood. "Axel."

Roxas flinched back, there was something about him even more familiar now, he remembered one of his sketches and his worry increased. Three words came to his mind as he looked at Axel: Best Friends. Fight.

Sora ran towards him and stood in front of him as if he was trying to shield him from this guy, from Axel.

"Well well well, a Sora, I did not expect to see you in his world, I wonder if you're the real one,"

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked, but Axel didn't answer, instead of looking intently at Sora and Roxas, noticing their stance.

"I guess it is you, you're unfrozen too, meaning you don't belong here. I really have no idea why he would do this, it seems like quite a stupid plan," Axel said thoughtfully, a little confused.

"What plan?" Roxas asked.

"We really don't have time for this, we need to leave."

"Leave where?" Sora asked, trying to hide Roxas behind him even more.

"Why are you trying to shield Roxas from me, Sora?"

"You're here to hurt him!" Sora shouted, but he was shaking for some reason.

"Sora?" Roxas asked concerned.

Axel looked at the two of them, realization dawned in him. "We all know that's not true," he replied. Roxas' head snapped towards Axel.

"You're not taking my brother from me!" Sora snapped at the redhead.

"Brother? Is that what he has you convinced?"

"He is my brother!" A devastating look came to Sora's face, "It was just a dream, you're not even supposed to be real," Sora whispered to himself.

"No, he's not, he's your Nobody," Axel answered ignoring the second comment.

"My...Nobody?" Sora asked confused.

"Or at least, he's supposed to be, you two are far too different," the redhead said with a shrug, "It's not just the looks either, I've met you before Sora, and I've known Roxas for a long time, this amount of differences shouldn't be."

"You can't… replicate Sora…" Roxas whispered to himself. There was sadness in there that Roxas himself didn't understand.

"Rep...licate…" Axel repeated, something in the back of his head was trying to tell him something, to remind him of something, but he just couldn't know what.

"I...do.." But before Roxas could finish, a voice came.

"Sora! Roxas!" A man wrapped in red bandages and builts shouted,"This man speaks nonsense, you must not listen to him."

"Sora! Roxas!" Axel yelled.

"Roxas!"

Both of them started shouting, calling for the boys. Dread spread through the brothers as their gazes changed from one man to the other. Out of fear, they grabbed each other's hands and closed their eyes, their faces scrunched together in pain, willing these two to stop.

Suddenly cheers from the crowd sounded all around them, the two brothers looked around in confusion, but relief that it was finally over.

"Winner! Roxas!" The announcer sounded and cheers got higher. "Now for the semi-finals. Sora Vs Roxas, brother against brother! Who will win, and fight Setzer?" Screams got higher, as both brothers got off of the arena to catch their breath after all this insanity.

"Alright! Way to go, Roxas!" Hayner said, slapping Roxas' back, with a big smile.

"Thanks, Hayner."

"Now whichever of you wins, we'll get the money," said Olette happily Pence nodding beside her. The brothers nodded, giving their friends their best smiles, but they could only manage tired ones.

It was decided that Sora and Roxas will fight after a 15-minute break in order for the fight to be fair. For Sora and Roxas they were just grateful they could catch their breaths in peace. The two brothers just stood alone, Roxas leaning against a wall, while Sora's head rested on it beside his brother .

"What did you mean" Roxas asked, Sora glanced at his brother from the corner of his eye, "What did you mean by 'he wasn't supposed to be real?" Roxas elaborated.

Sora took a deep breath and let it out. "The reason I was acting so weird this morning, and when I saw that guy…"

"Axel."

Sora nodded, "Axel." he swallowed a lump in his throat before he continued. "I dreamt about him," he explained. "But, it was never me in the dream, talking to him, It was you, and sometimes someone else. He said... He promised that… he'll always be there to bring you back."

A stray tear fell down Roxas' cheek. He removed it with the back of his hand and stared at it weirdly.

"When I saw him when I saw that he was real, I thought, I _knew_ , that he was here to take you away from me. I wasn't of anything else, I just knew that one thing to be true, and I was terrified, I don't even understand anything...Just…"

"Sora, we can talk about it back home, Okay? There is something I need to show you." Sora looked at his brother and nodded.

"Come on, it's time," Roxas said, and both brothers headed towards the arena to begin their battle. The brothers climbed up and faced each other, both holding a bat.

"Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?" the cheers got louder. "Ready! Set!" The two of them took their fighting stances, mirroring each other.

"Fight!"

Sora and Roxas ran towards each other. The blond boy sent a hit towards his brother, but Sora blocked him and sent a hit of his own. Roxas jumped back avoiding his brother's hit, and suddenly, he laughed in joy. Sora was caught by surprise, but joined his brother in laughing.

Roxas ran towards Sora, but the brunette somersaulted away, and Roxas followed. They kept that fight up, neither one able to land a hit on the other, both finally enjoying themselves for the first time this day, this was fun, this was just them, playing, laughing.

Ten seconds were left, with neither winning. Roxas' gaze went to the announcer as he declared how long they've got.

"Roxas," Sora called. Roxas' focus returned to his brother, and with a smile, Sora threw a ball at him. The bell rang, signifying the end of the round, with Roxas declared as the winner. Roxas looked at the extra ball in his hand dump founded, then back at his brother who had a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Sora," Roxas whined, and the older brother laughed. "Why?" Roxas asked.

Sora merely shrugged, "Neither of us was winning, so I said,'what the hell?'" He walked towards his younger brother, the smile never leaving his face.

"You threw your chance of winning for me?" Roxas asked with a laugh, "Just like that?"

"I'd do anything for you Roxas, you know that right?"

Roxas huffed and smiled, "Yeah, of course, I do." Sora's smiled became brighter.

"That was awesome you two!" Hayner yelled coming towards them.

"You guys were amazing!" Pence declared.

"Yup!" Said Olette with an excited nod.

The brothers gave their friends grins, everyone jumping in excitement.

Roxas went against Setzer and won easily, being declared the Struggle Tournament champion. He held the built up, to show everyone. Sora ran to hug his brother wrapping his hands around his neck, both laughing joy. When he let go, Roxas grabbed his hand and raised it up in victory, the crowd and their friends cheering.

They ended up watching the sunset on the clock tower, Roxas held the championship prize and removed all the crystals, giving one to each of his friends. The final one -blue as his and his brother's eyes- he held it towards Sora, who simply put his hand on top of Roxas', as if to say, ' _It's ours, not just mine alone.'_ Roxas and Sora exchanged smiles, calm, and worry free, happy.

"I have a surprise too," said Olette suddenly, "Tadda," as she got five Seasult Ice cream popsicles out. Roxas flipped his and Sora's hands, keeping the Crystal in Sora's and standing way too fast. He lost his balance and fell.

"Roxas!" Sora screamed in horror, but he was able to act fast and grab his brother's arm, not letting him fall. A wave of energy was released, and Sora was able to raise his brother up with their three friends helping them. Sora lunged himself at his brother the moment he was back up, and safe, both of them breathing hard.

"Are you okay?" Hayner asked.

"That was dangerous!" Olette said worry clearly in her voice.

But neither brother was listening to anything but the other's breathing.

"Why do I keep on almost losing you?" Sora whispered almost ready to start crying, Roxas simply hugged him titer to himself, not saying anything.

The friends parted ways, Roxas and Sora finally getting home after a day that seemed to go on for far too long. Sora headed to his room, but Roxas stopped him. "There is still something I need to show you," he said and motioned for Sora to come to his room, wordlessly, Sora complied, dread touching his heart once more.


	4. Chapter 4: Explanations

Sora entered Roxas' room, dread filling him. He watched his little brother as he headed towards his bed and kneeled, looking under it, he started searching for something. He removed a small gray shoe box, and turned to Sora, motioning with his head to come closer to him, then stood up and sat on the bed with his legs crossed, putting the box in front of him.

Sora compiled and sat on the bed across from his brother, mirroring him.

"Roxas," Sora whispered, in worry. Roxas' eyes were filled with fear, he gave his brother a sad smile and opened the box with a tired sigh.

"I didn't show you all of my sketches," he said as a way of explanation.

Sora gave his brother a confused look, he was a little hurt that Roxas didn't show him everything, after all, Sora loved seeing anything and everything Roxas makes. However, Sora didn't think that this wasn't the time for that, and after the long stressing day that they've had, he didn't think Roxas' sketches would add much. Roxas simply removed a few sketches from the box. He searched, looking for a certain one when he found it, he gave it to Sora.

Sora's eyes went wide with shock, and his chest began to hurt with fear. On this page, a lonely, mostly white page that should be harmless, was the face of the man that they saw today, smiling at him softly and fondly.

It was made lovingly, with every detail drawn as if Roxas had seen that man over and over, enough times to remember all these details. Sora let out a shaky breath and put the ketch down with an unsteady hand.

"When did you draw that?" The brunette whispered breathlessly.

Roxas didn't meet his brother's eyes, he merely looked at another sketch in his hand. "A week ago," he whispered back.

"How?" He asked in distress. Roxas just shrugged. "Have you met him before?" Sora asked desperately, even though he knew Roxas would not have kept someone like that from him. Axel himself seemed far too familiar with Roxas, not like people who'd met each other once. Sora's mind went back to his dreams of Roxas the other night, Axel seemed far too found of Roxas in them, which is why he knew the redhead wouldn't really hurt Roxas, fight him certainly, but not truly hurt him.

"It feels like I have," Roxas whispered again as if he'd done something wrong. "And there is something else."

"What more?!" Sora yelled, and his little brother flinched back, with a pained expression on his face.

"I guess, never mind," Roxas said and moved to return his sketches to the shoe box. Sora realized what he'd done, and grabbed Roxas' wrist gently.

"Hey," he whispered gently, making Roxas finally look at him, Sora's eyes were soft. "I'm not angry, Roxas. Not at you. Brother, I'm just scared."

Roxas nodded. "I'm scared too. It's starting to feel like.." Roxas looked away again.

"Like what?" Sora asked softly.

Roxas sighed sadly, "Like this world, this life is a lie."

"No."

"Sora," Roxas started.

"No!" He yelled, his eyes filling with tears. "This is real, this is the truth, because if it's not," he stopped, "If it's not then that means that you're not really my brother."

Roxas' eyes widened with shock. "I love you, I can't lose you, this couldn't be a lie! it can't be! And I..I...I" Roxas threw himself at his older brother, cutting him off and hugging him tightly. Sora hugged Roxas back, tears had long started to fall.

"If this world wasn't real if I wasn't your brother, would you stop loving me?" Roxas asked.

Sora hugged him titer, "I would never stop loving you. But it means that I could lose you."

"It's gonna be okay," Roxas said, trying to convince both himself and his brother. They ended the hug, and Roxas started putting his sketches away.

"What else?" Sora asked.

"Hmm?" Roxas asked confused.

"You said there was something else, aside from Axel," the brunette explained.

"Oh," the blond remembered. "When I think of Axel, he's there, clearly in my mind," he started explaining, "Even when I made that sketch and had no idea who he was, or why I was drawing him. He feels right, the idea of him is whole."

"But?"

"But there was always the feeling of something's missing, some _one_ ," Roxas held his sketches to Sora. "I drew these all in one night," the blond explained and handed Sora the remaining pictures. The older boy went through them.

Aside from Axel, there were ten other men, one woman with a terrifying smirk, and...Kairi? Sora kept staring at the picture, because no, this wasn't Kairi, even if she looked like her, she looked a little different, seemed different, felt different.

"The Kairi one, right?" Roxas asked seeing his brother staring at one picture.

"...It's..not Kairi," he said shaking his head, Roxas nodded.

"I know. I went through the same thing you're going through right now," he said. "At first, I only drew the twelve. Each one had a complete idea or feeling attached to them. But drawing only them felt wrong. I knew that it was wrong," Roxas put his hand on his forehead. "I tried so hard to remember, because I needed to remember her, just for a second. I closed my eyes, and let my hand do what it wants. All I know is that I'm sad when I look at her. This picture is the only way I can remember her, she disappears faster than any of them in my memories."

Roxas glanced at Sora, seeing his hand resting on his heart.

"Sora?" Roxas asked.

"The fact that you drew this picture...It gives me happiness, and I don't understand," he said shaking his head in confusion.

"I know what you mean," Roxas said with a nod. Sora's eyes rested on Roxas again and handed him the sketch back. Roxas put all his sketches back in the shoe box, and returned it under the bed where it used to be, then sat down next to Sora, with a tired sigh.

"So what do we do now?" Roxas asked.

Sora shrugged, "Deal with things when they come?"

"I guess that's the best we could do huh?" Sora nodded in response.

"I guess...I should go to my room now," Sora said, but not making a move to get off of the bed.

Roxas' eyes shifted a bit then smiled at his brother. "You know, we can just put some mattresses here and sleep beside each other."

Sora's head snapped to Roxas and gave him a smile. The brunette jumped up, and grabbed Roxas' arm, dragging him, to get the mattress. Roxas let out a laugh as Sora got him out of the door.

The boys laid next to each other, facing the other, their hands clasped together on the pillow. Both fell asleep with the last thing they saw is their brother's smiling face.

The next day, Sora woke up first, he opened his eyes and realized that they've shifted their places in their sleep, with Roxas' head now resting on his chest, still fast asleep. Sora smiled contently, and hugged his brother closer to him, keeping one hand on Roxas' back, while the other ran through the younger's blond hair. Sora had no idea how long they stayed like that until Roxas woke up.

The blond took a deep breath as he woke up, his eyes fluttered open, a small smile on his lips. It took him a second to realize that he had shifted in his sleep and he was laying on his big brother's chest, with said big brother's hand running through his hair.

Roxas shifted to get up, but Sora's hand moved to his back, and hugged him titer, stopping Roxas from moving. Roxas chuckled, then shifted his body to hug Sora back.

"How long have you been awake?" Roxas asked his brother, as Sora's hands returned to his hair. The brunette shrugged, he didn't know or care much.

"Sora~" Roxas whined.

"I like this," he said, which gave Roxas a pause. "At least I know that you're safe in my arms." Roxas chuckled but didn't say anything. They stayed like this for a few more minutes before they had no choice but to start their day.

Olette glared at the four of them. "Only three days left for summer vacation, don't even mention that assignment to me," Hayner said.

"But we agreed to get it done today!" said Olette clearly frustrated with their friend.

"Shouldn't we, I don't know maybe focus on the fact that Roxas almost fell yesterday?" Hayner said clearly not wanting to talk about the assignment.

"Roxas is clearly fine, now stop changing the subject," she said with her hands on her hips now glaring at Hayner full force.

"Alright, already," the blond said, giving up trying to argue with Olette. "Does anyone have any idea what we can use for a topic?"

The topic ended up being Twilight Town's Seven Wonders. By the end of the day, Sora and Roxas were about to beat someone with a shovel or their Keyblades. Either they were going insane, which at this point it's pretty possible, or everyone in this town is fucking blind.

Shadow people, moving trash bags that have dogs in them for some reasons, balls coming out of walls, ghost trains and fuck all. They were tired, they were scared, but they had to get this over with. They still had the ghost girl that lives inside the haunted mansion to get to. Hayner ducked out, frustrated with not finding anything.

Pence, Sora, and Roxas reached the mansion. They needed to look for the girl who "appears in the second-floor window." Both brothers looked up, and they saw her.

Somehow the two brothers found themselves inside the mansion, with the girl sitting in a chair across from them. The walls were completely white, and the only colors were what looked like childish drawings.

The girl was familiar, which surprised the brothers. She had Kairi's face, blond hair that was was longer than Kairi's. The girl Roxas drew came to mind, but both knew that it was a different person.

"Who are you, and how did we get here?" Roxas asked glaring at the girl.

She looked sad as she looked at the two of them. "Hello Sora, Roxas. My name is Namine. Please, you don't need to be angry."

"Don't need to be angry? Do you have any idea the week we've been through?!" Roxas yelled, and the blond girl flinched back. "I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

"No, I understand," she said sadly.

Sora meanwhile was moving through the room, looking closely at the pictures, His island, him and Riku, Kairi, the Paopu fruit, Donald and Goofy from Roxas' dreams. All things Sora remembers and cherishes, except for one. Roxas, who, Sora assumed, was the one in that picture standing with the red-haired man, Axel. Both wearing the black coat, just like in Sora's dreams. There was another picture of Roxas with him, which made him even more uneasy.

"Why are these paintings on the wall, and why isn't Roxas a part of what's mine?" Sora asked in a controlled voice, not looking at her.

"Don't you two wanna know the truth, about who you really are?"

"No one knows us, better than us," said Roxas.

"I guess that's true," she answered.

"But if you have answers, we'll gladly take them," Roxas said. Namine nodded.

"About a year ago," she started, "Something happened, and I had to take away the memories chained in Sora's heart," Roxas gasped softly, and Sora's eyes widened still turned away. "But now, I'm putting them all back exactly the way they were. It's taken me a long time, but pretty soon, Sora will have all his memories back, the way it should be. The process has been affecting you too, Roxas."

"The dreams, they're really Sora's memories?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Diz believed that putting the two of you together would make it easier for you to accept what should be done. And certainly, the two of you being this close made the process of putting the memories back easier. It even brought back some of Roxas' memories that Diz hid away, even the ones you lost, like Xion." Roxas' flinched back as a memory came to him.

" _Today, we welcome our new member, Number XIV, Xion"_

"Accept what?" Sora asked, anger and dread filling him.

"Sora," she looked at the brunette sadly, "Roxas was never meant to exist in the first place."

The brothers' eyes widened in shock and fear, and Sora finally yelled in anger and frustration, "What?! What's that supposed to mean? How does any of what you said make sense?" Sora stomped towards her but was brought back outside as Pence shock the two of them.

"Did you two see anything?" Pence asked. The two of them looked up again, only to see that the girl, Namine, was gone.

"No, it was just the curtain moving," Roxas answered.

Pence signed disappointed "Oh man. Well," he perked up quickly. "Let's get back to the usual spot, Hayner and Olette are waiting for us there."

They found Olette who told them that the report was already done, and went to see Hayner at the station.

The meeting with Namine had exhausted the two of them, but even though he didn't show it, Sora was furious, this strange girl, just told them that she took apart his own memories, is putting them back together. That a guy named Diz "put" them here. That his little brother was never supposed to exist! Sora wanted to scream, to yell, to cry, he wanted to understand what's going on, and he wanted this to stop and be over with.

"This world is his creation," Roxas whispered.

"What?" Sora asked.

"It's what Axel said, remember? This world is his creation, and now this girl, Namine, said Diz put us in here."

"What? You're gonna trust the word of two strangers?"

"Sora, I can't even trust my own eyes and ears right now! Can you?" Sora couldn't answer, he shook his head and sat down.

"They're playing with us, playing with our memories, with our reality, with who we are and were. And we're supposed to be okay with that?" The blond didn't answer. "Roxas say something!"

"What do you want me to say?!" Roxas yelled, "That I'm angry? That I'm scared? Because I am, Sora, I am!" Tears were falling down Roxas' face, he sat down beside his brother. "We don't even know everything yet," he whispered. "She said what has to be done, what did she even mean by that?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's not gonna happen."

"Sora?"

"I don't know what they want, but I have a feeling it's not something I'd like. I'm gonna keep you safe, no matter what."

Roxas nodded, giving Sora a hug, both of them dreading the future.


End file.
